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If you are a valid StarCityGames.com Premium member and still cannot view the article, please consult this FAQ. Travis is a twenty-five year old guy who works for his uncle's construction company in Connecticut. He's playing Workshop Aggro, featuring Force of Will. David, on the other hand, is a twenty-seven year old computer programmer from Virginia, playing five-color Stax.
Game 1:
Having won the roll, David opts to play first. His opening seven contains too few mana sources to keep it, and he ships it back looking for a little Stax lovin'. His new hand is considerably different.
He leads with a Mishra's Workshop and a Crucible of Worlds, which resolves. He follows it up with Mox Pearl and Mana Vault before shipping back to Travis. Travis matches David's mana explosive hand with one of his own, dropping Wasteland, Mox Sapphire, and Sol Ring before passing.
David finds something to do with his mana, playing both Smokestack and Tangle Wire.
"Tangle Wire?" Travis asks. "That's a dirty card. That was a good six cards."
Travis drops a Workshop, but still has no business to play.
David puts a counter on Smokestack, and empties his hand by playing Black Lotus and Sphere of Resistance. Smokestack eats a Workshop while Travis Ancestral Recalls himself on his upkeep. He finds a second Workshop, then uses it to play a Chalice of the Void at one. David's Mana Vault gets sucked in to a Smokestack before dealing him another point, but his Smokestack stays at one counter. He topdecks Mox Jet, which he plays as just another permanent.
David stacks his effects to force Travis to tap mostly down after sacrificing his Workshop, and David follows suit by losing his own 'shop. He finds a second Sphere of Resistance and drops it into play.
Travis lacks any business on his turn, and David establishes a hard lock with two Sphere of Resistances, a Smokestack, and Crucible of Worlds. He lets his Tangle Wire die to the Smokestack, and begins looking for a way to finish Travis off. Travis finally manages to find a Workshop and a Black Lotus, which allows him to generate some red mana, which he uses to play a Mox Pearl and a Goblin Welder.
David opts to put a second counter on his Smokestack and passes the turn to Travis, who Welds out David's Smokestack for a Mana Vault on his upkeep. Travis decides his Welder is the permanent worth keeping - but David locates Vampiric Tutor and uses it to fetch up Balance after inquiring about how many cards in hand Travis has.
David plays Mana Crypt with Mishra's Workshop, and breaks his Lotus to cast Crop Rotation, fetching himself a Strip Mine. David finally casts Balance with zero cards in hand, zero lands, and zero creatures, leaving Travis with zero permanents.
It isn't long before David finds Karn, Silver Golem, and Travis decides to scoop.
Allen 1 - LaPlante 0
Sideboarding
Travis boards in two Eon Hubs for two Chalice of the Voids.
David boards in three Seal of Cleansings, a Swords to Plowshares, a Duplicant, two Artifact Mutations, and a Rack and Ruin for three Tangle Wires, four Sphere of Resistances, and his Sundering Titan.
"I can't believe you played the Mana Crypt."
"I really didn't want you to have any cards in your hand after the Balance."
"I'll keep this pile," Travis says enthusiastically.
Travis leads with Mana Crypt, Gemstone Mine, and Crucible of Worlds. David, on the other hand, leads with Mox Jet, Gemstone Mine, and Goblin Welder.
Mana Crypt misses Travis' face, and he finds himself a Thirst for Knowledge, discarding Sundering Titan, and plays a Mox Jet.
David drops a City of Brass and taps it to Ancestral Recall himself, and chains it into Mox Pearl and Thirst for Knowledge, discarding Mox Ruby.
Travis again dodges Mana Crypt, and casts an Ancestral of his own. He plays a Workshop, and hard-casts Duplicant to answer David's Goblin Welder. David, unfazed, drops a Wasteland, and casts Seal of Cleansing with his Moxes.
Travis finally takes a bolt to the head from his Crypt, and uses his turn to drop a Ruby and a Gemstone Mine in addition to his beating for one. After combat, he casts Tinker.
"That seems good..." David says.
Travis fetches up a Darksteel Colossus, and plays Eon Hub before finally passing the turn back. David casts Vampiric Tutor on Travis' end step to fetch up Duplicant. He drops Tolarian Academy and hard-casts his Duplicant, hoping to eat Travis' Colossus... but Travis has a Force of Will to defend his iron giant, and beats down hard for twelve. David Crop Rotations his City of Brass out of existence on Travis' end step, digging up a Gemstone Mine. He rips Thirst for Knowledge of the top, which...
Does not find his Balance.
It does, however, find his Artifact Mutation. David can't buy himself enough time to answer the Colossus permanently, and decides to move to game three.
Allen 1 - LaPlante 1
Travis boards out his other two Chalice of the Voids, bringing in Blue Elemental Blast and Hydroblast.
"I'm ready for game three; how about you?"
"Yeah, let's do this."
Game 3:
David is content with his seven, but Travis sends his back settling on a hand of six.
His first turn features Karn, Silver Golem off Mishra's Lotus, Mox Pearl, and Sol Ring. Travis matches his start with Mox Emerald, Mox Ruby, Black Lotus, City of Brass, and Goblin Welder....
....which is a critical mistake as Travis walks into Karn's ability, losing most of his board shortly after Thirst for Knowledge resolves. David Wastelands Travis' land, leaving him with nothing but the Goblin Welder. David also plays Crucible of Worlds, and starts taking some three-point chips off Travis' life total.
David eventually casts Smokestack, which resolves.
"Can't do it!" Travis says, thinking intently. He plays Mana Crypt, Welds it out for Black Lotus, which breaks for blue mana. He casts Fact or Fiction, leaving a single blue mana floating, and flips over Mana Vault, Null Rod, Mox Sapphire, Crucible of Worlds, and Force of Will. Travis takes a pile of Mana Vault, Null Rod, and Mox Sapphire, dumping a Workshop on the table and playing out his newfound Rod and a Juggernaut to match. Can this be the comeback?
David eliminates Travis' Workshop and replays his Wasteland.
Travis lets his Juggernaut get sucked in to the Smokestack, and welds out Mana Vault for Crucible of Worlds on his upkeep. He plays City of Brass, and plays a second Goblin Welder.
David keeps Wasting Travis' land, not allowing Travis to generate any mana with his Crucible. David finds a second Smokestack, which he plays (having lost his first to a Welder). Travis then Welded out David's Karn for Smokestack now, and plays Tinker, digging an Eon Hub out of his deck.
David finally finds a City of Brass for the Artifact Mutation in hand, but lacks a second colored source. He settles for Ancestral Recall, which yields no additional plays. Travis welds in a Juggernaut on the end step, and keeps on dropping land. With nothing beyond a beat for five, David gets the turn again. He uses it to play Triskelion off two Workshops, and Travis casts Thirst for Knowledge in response. Travis discards Duplicant, then Force of Wills the Triskelion. David plays a Goblin Welder, and passes the turn back.
Travis removes the Welder on David's end step with a welded in Duplicant, and welds the Crucible back in before untapping. Juggernaut beats again bringing David to eight life. Travis Welds in a Sapphire and plays Sol Ring with it, which plays Null Rod.
The Deck Gods grant David a favor, and he rips Balance off the top of his deck. He drops a City of Brass and pops himself for two to cast Balance with three cards in hand. Travis responds by welding in Crucible for his Juggernaut, and both players are left with zero creatures and zero cards in hand.
Travis kills David's two Cities of Brass in retribution, and David has nothing but a land drop to make up for it. Travis casts Mystical Tutor on David's end step, snagging... Deep Analysis?
"Why is this card even in my deck?" Travis asks, pulling a card from his deck and showing the crowd.
"I think we're going to ask you in the top eight interviews," Ted Knutson replies.
David plays Seal of Cleansing off the top, and passes the turn to Travis. Travis uses Deep Analysis to draw two cards. David busts his Seal of Cleansing to kill the Crucible of Worlds on Travis' turn, and starts detonating Travis' board. Travis makes a land drop, and casts Time Walk. He picks up another Goblin Welder from the top, and passes the turn. David plays a Welder of his own, and kills Travis' City of Brass. Travis Welds back in his Duplicant to eat David's Goblin Welder, and swaps his non-Crucible backed lands for David's lower board, and David does nothing to answer it but play another land.
Travis casts Ancestral Recall on himself, and welds out David's Crucible of Worlds for Mana Crypt. The first shot from Crypt misses David, and he's forced to Swords to Plowshares Goblin Welder.
"I'm a terrible player!" Travis exclaims.
A pair of Strip Mines backed by Travis' fresh Crucible wipes out what's left of David's board - and suddenly, the judge notices a mistake! David does not need to roll for his Mana Crypt, due to Eon Hub.
Travis casts Copy Artifact to make a new Duplicant, and swings for more than David's life total in a hard-fought game.
Allen 1 - LaPlante 2
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